Detail of a ceiling The Bihar Retreat - The Stitched Stories and the Mudejar Architecture of Bihar January 15th - 25th 2026   I am very fortunate to be a group leader for Aahilya Holidays. It is a wonderful opportunity to discover more of the world, and especially, to understand more about the history of the world through it's textiles and architecture. Learning more about the Silk Road, The Golden Road, The Cotton Road and The Paper Road, I am falling in love with the stories of Central Asia and all the artifacts, crafts and layers of architectural design.    Islamic architecture in Uzbekistan started me off and now I am researching further afield. Reading more history books I am beginning to understand there is no one architectural style. All are created from ideas, experiments and new ways of building down the centuries. Invading armies captured artisans with skills not known to the invaders. These artisans were put to work to build mosques, churches and palaces...

  Me with 2 of my ExTex girls Mary and Trisha     I had 2 days at The Festival of Quilts. The exhibits were fabulous, a real inspiration. And it was so good to catch up with friends.  If you missed my previous post about my favourite stand at FOQ 2025, you can find it here -  My favourite stand FOQ part 1 Isha Sharma, Wendy Dolan and me I made the trip to catch up with Wendy Dolan, Isha from Aahilya Holidays and Janet Kolle from Vlieseline. John J Cole Morgan was the bonus!! Wendy and I have known each other since we first taught at The Connaught Adult Education Centre in Hove. UK. in the late 1990's. We have both developed from adult education tutors to professional freelance tutors, artists and authors. This is Wendy's website.  Isha Sharma is the owner of Aahilya Holidays. You may be aware I am now leading tours for her company, as is Wendy. My first 2 trips to Uzbekistan in March and April of this year were incredible. Everything is so very well organis...

  My favourite piece of the entire show   The Festival of Quilts 2025 was wonderful. It was so very good to catch up with friends and students. I was there for 2 days, and it was almost enough.  The quilt displays were fabulous and there were some amazing and thought provoking quilts. From traditional to modern and everything in between. Whilst I can appreciate the skill involved in all the clever machine stitched quilts and the amazing colourful designs and piecing  . .  I am always drawn to the less 'perfect' hand pieced and stitched work.  I am fully aware this isn't a popular opinion, but it is my own.   I taught basic quilting techniques as part of my 4 year Experimental Textiles course. This involved me researching the history of quilting before I could teach it. I was fascinated by the story telling of memory quilts, the beautiful quilts made by soldiers from scraps of soldiers woolen uniforms in the first world war, and the Changi Quilt . Above...